To the creative mind, a flower is not just a flower. It is a marvel of design, color, mathematical elegance, embedded pattern and harmonious contrast. It is functional, beautiful and an integral part of our ecosystem.

An insect is not just a pest to be feared or crushed. It is a marvel of bio-mechanical engineering, a miracle of adaptation and specialization in an impossibly beautiful marriage of function with form.

A cloudy sky is not just a portent of rain. It is an infinite alien landscape, a thousand exotic worlds ripe with possibility, a magical menagerie of enchanted creatures, mythological beasts and rainbows.

I love metaphors. The merging of two seemingly incompatible ideas to beautify a literary passage or to create symbolic value or memorable conversational hyperbole, is a powerful thing. Not only are metaphors effective literary constructs, they are effective conceptual processes that help people understand and categorize their world in a powerful, memorable and meaningful way.

I remember at various times resenting both those commands but with the benefit of hindsight, I realize just how important they both are.

I’ve had jobs where the singular mandate was to work hard. Ironically, the people who I have seen doing those jobs struggle to maintain their energy day in and day out, and as we all know, energy is required to work hard.

Kids take their fantasies seriously. They want to build imaginary worlds where they are the hero. They want their imaginary worlds to make sense, to be detailed, rich, cool, fun and exciting. They often want to share their imaginary world with friends or siblings and they are more than willing to tweak their world building to include them – sometimes as a co-hero, sometimes as a rival, sometimes as a sidekick, and sometimes as a fellow traveler. Watching kids build worlds is a pleasure. It seems effortless how they incorporate new ideas into their process.

I just picked up a copy of Joe Haldeman's, "Forever Peace". I read "Forever War" when I was in public school back in 1976 and it blew my mind a little. I was 12 and the picture Mister Haldeman painted of warfare was memorable, detailed and gritty. The concept of time travel and relativity was new to me as was the concept of evolving human sexuality and trans-genderism. These were big concepts for a twelve year old, but they were the kind of ideas that stuck with me for decades. I still marvel at how prescient Joe was. The book is just as relevant now as it was then. I'm looking forward to reading Forever Peace.